Ready or Not
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day six hundred and thirty-nine: After that first kiss, she's been ignoring him, and he won't let it go.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 30th cycle. Now cycle 31!_

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><p><strong>Hear that little bird twitter!<strong> _Been thinking about doing this for a couple days, then this morning decided to just go for it. If you go there, find 'gleekathon' and there I'll be. There's also a video explaining everything... Yep... ;) Check it out!_

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><p><strong>"Ready or Not"<br>Shelby & Beth, Emmett & Joanie, Shelby/Emmett  
><strong>**Shelby & Beth series, sequel to "We Get Higher" **

Even as a few weeks had gone by, it seemed like the events of the night of Joanie's dance were still very present in their lives. For one it was the symbol of joy, but for the other it was… well, they still didn't know.

Joanie now could hardly contain herself in bringing up the fact that she had a boyfriend. Sweet little Joanie, wise little Joanie, who preferred adults to people her age a lot of the time, was in love with a boy named Alex Singh… and the boy was mad for her as well. He was becoming a presence, more and more, even being invited to sit in at the occasional movie afternoon with Shelby, where Joanie wished to introduce him to the movies she had gotten to love. The boy seemed to worship Joanie, treating her so well that they would almost wonder if he was real sometimes. But the changes he brought to her life were not dramatic ones. She didn't start misbehaving; the fact was Alex wasn't too much of a social butterfly either. All he did, and in the best way, was to bring even more joy to Joanie's days.

That was that, but then… there was the other side, the one Joanie still had no idea had even happened. She didn't know how, as she was making her way back to her front door, as she rang the bell, her father Emmett and the woman she saw as more of a mother than her own mother were sharing their first kiss, at the end of a night that had brought confidence and nearness. The kiss had been interrupted by Joanie's return and one of the biggest questions Shelby couldn't help but ask herself was what would have happened if they hadn't been interrupted. Beth had been right there, within an arm's length or so, which made the idea that things would have gone too far a bit unlikely, and still…

Shelby's idea of a love life had been so different, before this place. It wasn't so much a love life as it was… convenience. She certainly didn't have the time or the will to carry on a full on relationship, with dating and titles and the likes. She'd make out with the odd choir director, and if they weren't gay then maybe they would progress… But it always ended up the same way.

When she'd gotten Beth, quit her job, moved away… she'd made a decision. She was changing her life, making it everything she'd never had and everything she'd always wanted. This included possibly, finally, opening herself up to love… real love, romance. But then she also had an infant daughter to care for, and as much as she wanted that whole swept-off-your-feet story, Beth had to come first. The moment she'd met Emmett though, it was like she knew… he would be trouble. Not bad trouble, but trouble that set claim to her heart and refused to let go. She had fought to delay it, knowing she wasn't ready to give him what she could feel coming. But tried as she might, there was no denying him and eventually they had ended up right there, kissing, and…

They hadn't spoken about it, not once. It had taken some effort, really. She could tell he wanted to talk, to maybe consider moving forward, but… she couldn't do it, not yet. Maybe she was resisting because she was scared, or uncertain, but it was as she'd always insisted… This was new, and it was more filled with meaning than anything she'd ever experienced, so this was how it had to be.

Eventually Emmett had stopped trying. This wasn't to say that he had changed his mind. She still saw him, in his yard, or when he came to the house, or when she went to his… but the subject stayed off the table. She could see it, right there in his eyes, that he wanted to be near her, to hold her, to kiss her again, but much like Alex Singh, he was a specimen of man usually seen in fiction… How two of those had found themselves in reality and wrapped themselves around her heart and Joanie's was beyond her... If Joanie could be happy and in love, why couldn't she… Did she love him? Did she love Emmett Tepley, Superneighbor?

She found herself on repeated occasions just standing at the window, looking at the house next to hers, sometimes catching a glimpse of him… She didn't even do it consciously, which only made it more awkward when she caught herself… and then when he caught her. When he did, she watched him start to go back in his house, but then… he stopped, waited… She knew what he would do, but she didn't move. She watched him cross over from one yard to the other, then come to the back door, let himself in.

"Shelby…" he started, and she turned to look at him. "You know I tried to stay back, because I figured that was what you wanted, and I… waited… All this time you've been so open to me, and that means a lot to me. And Joanie, you know how much I try and do what's best for her… Lately, that's been you, Shelby. You've been what's best for her… for both of us, and I'd hate to think that for once patience would do more harm than good because we finally had something going…

"Emmett, stop," she held up her hands, and she watched him retreat immediately, like his old gentleman ways would make him. "I get what you're saying, and believe me it's been… on my mind… a lot," she sighed, looking back to Beth, who sat looking at her from her playpen. "You're… infuriating, a lot of times, you know that?"

"I've heard that," he confirmed, sensing it wasn't said as reproach. She nodded, smirking, which let him breathe.

"And the thing is, as odd as it might sound, this is new to me. I always thought I knew exactly where I was going in life, but these last few months it's like I…" she searched.

"Threw away the map?" he tried.

"Yeah, guess you could say that," she nodded. "So now I'm just trying to… find my way again. You look out for your daughter, and I'm looking out for mine, too… Not that I'm saying you're not… She lights up when you're there, I mean look at her," she turned, and Emmett took a step, smirking as he saw the girl's head turn up, giving a great big smile.

"Hey little pea…" he took a few more steps to crouch and offer his finger, which Beth took.

"One day she's going to speak, and you know what she'll call you…" Shelby went on. Emmett paused, looking back at her… "And maybe she will, maybe that's what you'd be… But I need to figure things out for myself and hope… hope you'll still be there when I come out on the other side…" she almost felt like she would cry, and she didn't want that… He'd come to hold her in a heartbeat. But she'd gotten her point across. He stood, giving her a quiet nod before moving to the door. She wouldn't watch him leave, but still she heard him.

"I'll still be here… I'm a patience man, you know that." When he was gone, she did cry… Now she knew – she loved him.

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>******always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******


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